In 1919, since the beginning of the year, the Russian civil war has been in full swing, and the flames of war are becoming more and more vigorous.

On the Eastern Front, in March Kolchak mobilized 400,000 White Guards in Siberia to cross the Ural Mountains and invade the Volga River valley. In the Far East, the Japanese intervention forces landed in Vladivostok.

On the southern front, the combined Anglo-French fleet entered the Black Sea, the French marines landed in Odessa, and the British intervention forces occupied Baku. Denikin in the Caucasus, armed with 100,000 American men and 200 British military advisers, began to advance north, capturing Tsaritsyn at the end of June, Moscow in July, and the Donbas region and Kyiv in October.

On the Western Front, the British fleet invaded the Baltic, and the Yudenich White Army launched an offensive on Petrograd in mid-May.

Russia's third line was critical, because the Trans-Siberian Railway was occupied by the White Army, and the east and west were cut into two sections, resulting in the inability to take care of the beginning and the end. After taking control of the North Manchurian Railway, the government of the Feng Department took this opportunity to control the economic lifeline and strategic fulcrum of Heilongjiang Province, and there was only one Russian stronghold left in China: Hulunbuir.

The Hulunbuir area originally belonged to Heilongjiang.

Manchuria, the first station at the western end of the North Manchurian Railway, is a border city between China and Russia, formerly known as "Kholegin Prague", which means "vigorous spring" in Mongolian. In 1901, after the completion of the western line of the Eastern Railway, the railway station was built here, because it was the first station of Russia to enter Northeast China (commonly known as Manchuria at that time), so it was called "Manchuria Station", the Russian language is "Manchuria", and the transliteration of Chinese is "Manzhouli", which is under the management of Heilongjiang Province, and the Binfu is set up, and the Republic of China was abolished at the beginning of the Republic of China, and the whole territory of Hulun was translocated.

From January 15, 1912, when Tsarist Russia instigated Hulunbuir's "independence" and succeeded, to November 6, 1915, when China and Russia signed the "Sino-Russian Conditions for the Settlement of Hulunbuir" in Beijing, also known as the "Hulun Treaty", and the Beiyang government abolished its independent status, it has been under the actual control of Tsarist Russia for nearly four years. Although the treaty nominally stated that "Hulunbuir is designated as a special region and is directly under the control of the central government", in fact Tsarist Russia still enjoys full privileges in it.

Politically, the establishment of the highest official and deputy capital enjoys "the functions and powers of the provincial governor" and is only "supervised by the governor of Heilongjiang", but administratively it is parallel, and it must be "directly appointed by the president who chooses the Mongolian personnel of the third grade or above in the locality"; Although it was stipulated that "if the officials of the call office think that the place is unclear and unable to suppress it, the central government may send troops there", but "only the Russian government should be notified first" to legitimize Russian interference;

Acknowledging the illegal rights and interests of more than 50 economic contracts between former Russian businessmen and the Hulunbuir government---- "Russian entrepreneurs who have concluded contracts with Hulunbuir officials and have been examined by the Chinese and Russian commissioners shall be recognized by the Chinese government", and "in the future to build railways, the loans must be borrowed by Russia first"...

This is a concession that is not a concession, because "the Chinese in Hulunbuir only have the right to borrow land." This word "borrowing" is said beautifully, but it turns out that foreigners are landlords and Chinese are tenants.

Taking advantage of his illness and killing him, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sweep away Russia's forces in the northeast in one fell swoop. And if Tongliao, Xing'an League, and Hulunbuir are won and connected with the three northeastern provinces, what a broad prospect this is!

Just after the New Year, Zhang Hanqing threw out a proposal to recover Hulunbuir. Speaking of which, this strategic idea, in addition to the rare opportunity, is also mostly related to the consideration of one's own descendants.

Because of the natural advantage of the young marshal, Zhang Hanqing has made many big moves in just over two years, and his edge has been exposed, and he has surpassed the giants of the Feng system. The interests of the Northeast are limited, and now that the People's Party has blossomed in the whole region, administrative affairs have also been intervened in many ways, and military resources such as arsenals and lecture halls are also in his hands.

Although Ming will not oppose Zhang Hanqing's measures, he has gradually rebounded in some things, especially on the military power that is related to life. As the old handsome, Zhang Zuolin is a bowl of water, which is good for everyone to share, and basically the Northeast has formed a three-point situation in which Wu Junsheng, Sun Liechen, and Zhang Zuoxiang each lead a province. As a rising star, Zhang Hanqing and his young marshal department have never been able to justifiably keep pace with these old marshals because of their qualifications, after all, they can't be too ugly.

In this case, if Zhang Hanqing wants to make a breakthrough, he is bound to snatch food from their mouths, and in the early stage of the Feng system, which is not yet full-fledged, this kind of internal dispute is still unnecessary.

However, passively waiting for the situation to change is not a good strategy, Zhang Hanqing, who has a heavy army, has the idea of expanding outward, and the north is a good breakthrough. When discussing the current situation with the senior management of the Feng department, he believes that there are four advantages, which are enough to achieve the maximum result at the minimum cost:

"Russia is mired in a civil war and has no spare strength to protect its original sphere of influence in China, with the least risk;

The Japanese in the north are wandering in Siberia, and if they control Hulunbuir, they can guarantee peace in the northwest, and it is like a sharp knife that holds the connection between Mongolia, Siberia and the Far East, which is two;

The Hulunbuir defenders are weak, and there is a great certainty of success, which is three;

The most important thing is that this is Chinese territory, which has been explained both internally and externally. ”

Most of the military and political dignitaries of the Feng department agreed with this, and Wu Junsheng, who had participated in the suppression of bandits in this area and had become the overseer of Heilongjiang, strongly supported it, saying: "Hulunbuir was originally under the jurisdiction of Heilongjiang Province, but he let Lao Maozi rob it. Ahem, my big tongue has always been unconvinced. Now that we are strong and strong, we will take it in one go, and we will also stop the old Maozi's thoughts. ”

Lao Wu is afraid of the Japanese, but he is not afraid of the Russian devils. Because recently, the down-and-out White Russians have come to the Northeast to beg for a living, and once these original nobles of heaven fall, it will be like that. Although it did not reach the point of begging, it was not uncommon for men to fall and women to lose their footing, and it was not uncommon on the streets of Harbin to receive a very beautiful white Russian aristocratic lady in Wu Junsheng's house, who would be more troublesome than Chinese women.

Once a person has a psychological advantage, this courage will arise spontaneously, and the key is that he has two divisions of troops. It is the dream of every warlord to have the opportunity to expand his territory. In order to gain his support, Zhang Hanqing had promised in advance that after controlling Hulunbuir, he would still put the place under the jurisdiction of Hei Province.

"The young marshal is right, take advantage of the fact that you will get back the land that Maozi grabbed one by one now, and there will be no such store in this village after that!"

Among the three major factions, Wu Junsheng took the lead in agreeing, and Sun Liechen and Zhang Zuoxiang, who were good friends with Zhang Hanqing, would never object. Some members of the Feng faction were still jealous because Hulunbuir was in Russia's sphere of influence, and they also became active after Zhang Hanqing explained the situation in Soviet Russia.

The strength of the Northeast Feng Army, which has established the structure of the Eighth Division, has swelled dramatically and urgently needs to be released. However, the two special areas west of Shanhaiguan, Rehe in the north, and Chahar are all controlled by the Anhui system, and Duan Qirui, the head of the Anhui system, is now the prime minister of the government, and the "Anfu Congress" under the control of the Anhui system has elected Xu Shichang of the Anhui system as the president. Only Liaobei, which fell into a state of three irregularities, was most likely to be conquered by the Feng army.

As to whether the dispute between Liaobei and Liaobei will cause a backlash from Japan and the Soviet Union, the generals of the Feng army are too careful. Only Zhang Hanqing clearly knows the historical trend during this period: taking advantage of the Japanese and Suzhou dog-eat-dog, seizing every opportunity to create a fait accompli is the most important. He spared no effort to lobby the top brass and repeatedly explained that the Japanese were powerless to interfere with the movements of the Feng army, and that Soviet Russia had no time to take care of it, and that this was a good time to recover the country.

Zhang Zuolin is also very tempted to expand the Feng faction, he is also decisive, and at present, Sun Liechen, the former deputy commander-in-chief of the Feng Army, is the commander-in-chief of this military operation, and the armies are uniformly dispatched, and Zhang Hanqing is the commander-in-chief of the front.

Sun Liechen attacked Zhalantun with the 29th Division of Wanfulin in Heilongjiang Province along the northwest direction of the North Manchurian Railway from Qiqihar. This time, the use of troops reflects the benefits of controlling the lifeline of transportation in their own hands. With the cooperation of the station staff, all the baggage and personnel reloaded and entered Zhalantun with lightning speed.

After taking it easily, it continued westward to Yakeshi, where it fought fiercely with the 18th Cavalry Brigade of the Hulunbuir Special Zone Army, which was the first to react at the Hailar River. Wan Fulin's troops did not love to fight, except for one blockade, most of them rushed to the west to seize the road, and approached Hailar. The purpose of the 18th Brigade was to harass and delay the attack of the Feng army, and after being forced to retreat to the north bank of the river by the fierce fire of Wanbu, it did not know the truth and did not dare to press too hard, and confronted the troops behind the Feng army across the river.

The Guards Division got off the Pingqi Railway through Baicheng and entered Ulanhot in the north with surprise troops, and then attacked Arshan overnight. In order to stabilize the results, the 1st, 23rd, 27th, and 28th divisions were all guarding all parts of Liaoning and dealing with the Japanese, and the 16th and 30th divisions were garrisoned in Jilin, so that they were completely held by the Feng army, especially north of Kuanchengzi, in order to strangle any ideas and actions of the Japanese northward advance; The relatively safe Black Province only needs one division and one security division of the 29th Division.

In this way, the only troops that can move are the Guards Division, and the 29th Division can also go out partially under possible conditions, and the Battle of Hulunbuir will be the main force of these two troops.

In the night, the steel dragon was seen churning rapidly on the banks of the Taoshui River, and the sound of the clear river trickling was muffled by the wheezing of personnel and footsteps. In the early hours of the morning, a regiment of the Arshan garrison was disarmed in the camp sleepily.

After taking Arshan, the connection between the north and south of the Xing'an League was completely cut off, so that the entire Tongliao was completely surrounded in the west, east, and north directions.

The Guards Division entered the boundary of Tongliao from Fuxin, occupied the Naiman Banner, and then advanced sharply to the north, successively taking the Xiliao River and the Xinkai River, and besieging Kailu to cut off the westward retreat route of the Tongliao garrison. There were not many garrisons in Tongliao, the retreat was blocked, and the defenders quickly surrendered.

Three days later, the Guards Division occupied the major cities of Liaoyuan and Xing'anling, and the forward troops of the 29th Division were already under the city of Hailar.

The military operations of the Feng army in Hulunbuir and the Xing'an League soon alarmed the Soviet Russian government. Soviet Russia inherited the interests of Tsarist Russia in Hulunbuir, and of course refused to sit idly by and watch the Feng army occupy Hoh, and the Russian commercial plenipotentiary in Hulunbuir Barrodlov was ordered to protest against the action of the Feng army.